Shamrock Rovers manager Michael O'Neill has given a clear message to his players: attack, score goals and entertain!

O'Neill took charge of Rovers during the close season and he will take charge of his first competitive match for the Hoops on Friday night when they take on Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds (kick-off 7.45pm).

The former Northern Ireland international says that his football philosophy is to attack and try to win games by scoring plenty of goals.

“I want to see us playing good attacking football that people like to watch, and that wins games," he told the new-look shamrockrovers.ie. "We have a huge part to play in making people want to come to the stadium to see Rovers play. And I really want to see the team scoring goals, a lot more than were scored last season. We have work to do to close the gap between ourselves and the teams that were above us last year, but we intend to get there."

O'Neill feels that his squad is ready for the season to begin and is looking forward to facing Bray on Friday night.

“There is a great atmosphere among the players," he said. "I felt it was important to bring in the some experienced League of Ireland players. All the players we brought in have already had success in the league. Bradley is still only young, but he has already won things here. And in Ollie Cahill and Shane Robinson [pictured] we have two good, experienced players. Shane, being an ex-Rovers player is delighted to be back and have the chance to do well here.”

The Hoops may have made some good moves in the transfer market, but O'Neill believes his prize-catch has been coach Trevor Croly: “I think Trevor is probably the best signing I made, he has been brilliant to date. If there is a better young coach in the league I would be very surprised, I think he brings a lot of extra quality to our set-up.”